Thanks to a new crop of ultra-premium tequilas, this complex spirit no longer wears the frat-boy clothes of yore. Tequila can now be sipped and savored, in the same way you’d enjoy single-malt scotch or fine wine. Tequila types range from blanco (“white,” unaged, light and smooth) to extra añejo (“ultra-aged” for at least three years in oak barrels).

I sit in the fighting chair aboard the 33-foot charter sport-fishing boat Reel Addiction, mesmerized by the churning wash of a stream of white bubbles into the clear, sapphire-blue South Pacific Ocean. Behind and above me on the bridge, at the helm, is skipper Steve Campbell, a 60-year-old tanned and sinewy ex-New Zealander.

More than a decade ago, I was standing on a ramp at a California airport with an investment banker and his Dassault Falcon 900. Between incessant taps on his Blackberry, he was discussing the airplane and how he used it.

When is it time to buy your own jet? Part of the answer involves tax numbers, depreciation data, return on investment projections and the like; but if those are the sorts of factors you’re pondering right now, you should put down this article and pick up some of the many BJT features that address such concerns in detail.

A quality air charter provider should be able to have you in the air within two hours of receiving a call for a pop-up, or last-minute, domestic flight. [See “Taking Off in a Hurry”] But what if you need to alter the passenger manifest or amend your destination shortly before takeoff?

It’s too early to predict overall sales for 2013, but one key indicator—the number of aircraft for sale—continues to tick lower, suggesting that a recovery is still ongoing. In fact, the number of available jets and turboprops is now at its lowest point in roughly five years.

When it comes to outright aircraft ownership, you basically have two choices: hire a management company to handle operations and maintenance or set up your own corporate flight department. Done right, either option will afford you convenience and safety. What it really comes down to is cost versus control.

The latest generation of “little Lears” represents a big departure from what Bill Lear envisioned when he started his iconic company 50 years ago. The original Learjet 23 forced passengers to trade comfort for speed in a cramped cabin with few amenities and limited range. My, how times have changed.